Vection can be induced in the absence of explicit motion stimuli

The present study utilized two separate experiments to demonstrate that illusory self-motion (vection) can be induced/modulated by cognition. In the first experiment, two curved lines, which simulated road edges seen while driving at night, were employed. Although the lines induced adequate strength of forward vection, when one of the lines was horizontally reversed, vection was significantly reduced. In the second experiment, two static converging lines with moving characters, which simulated side edges of a straight road with a traffic sign, were utilized. The road sign moved only during the first 5 s. After the sign disappeared, only static lines or a blank screen were able to induce vection. These results suggested that vection was largely affected by cognitive factors and that vection could be induced by implicit motion stimuli.